PREP SOCCER : Esperanza’s Close Shave Ends With Title at Brea

Esperanza was tired and needed a show of team spirit this week in the Brea-Olinda boys’ soccer tournament.

Mark Alleman, a forward, went to Coach Kino Oaxaca for advice, and the coach said, “Shave your heads.”

It worked.

Esperanza won the first boys’ soccer invitational championship in the school’s history by beating North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake Wednesday in a shootout in the title game.

The teams were tied, 1-1, in regulation and at the end of overtime. Esperanza won the shootout, 3-1.

“A few kids didn’t shave their heads because of Christmas pictures,” said Oaxaca. “And I also had some parents upset with me because the kids didn’t ask permission. But we won.”

The longer the game continued the more the odds seemed against Esperanza (6-2-3), which had only 12 players available. Six more were out because of injuries, illness or vacations.

Esperanza managed to hang on for a tie at the end of regulation after leading, 1-0, in the first half.

Harvard-Westlake had three chances to score in overtime but failed each time. Esperanza managed little offense, getting only one solid shot.

Esperanza’s David Clemens opened the shootout by scoring against Harvard-Westlake goalkeeper Jay Rosen. Harvard-Westlake’s Warren Davidoff came back to tie it by beating Esperanza keeper Jason Fikse.

Esperanza’s Ayan Pikawski shot next and scored to put the Aztecs ahead, 2-1. The lead remained when Harvard-Westlake’s Christian Peyre missed the net wide to the left.

The Aztecs went up, 3-1, when Adam Delucia scored on a shot over Rosen’s head. Harvard-Westlake failed again when Brian Angelini missed to the right, and Fikse ended the game with a save of a shot by the fourth Harvard-Westlake kicker.

Esperanza, the defending Southern Section Division II champions, had taken a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game on a goal by Jason Wolfe. He scored on header off a throw-in by Albert Raya.

Harvard-Westlake tied the score on a goal by Teddy Macker with 17 minutes left in the second half.

Esperanza had the best chance to win in regulation when Rosen fumbled the ball in front of the net, but Clemens’ shot missed just right.

“We went back to going to the ball as a unit,” Oaxaca said. “I wanted them to pressure as a team and we accomplished that. We were a very, very tired team.”

In nonleague girls’ soccer:

El Modena 4, Corona 1--Kaylee Whitfield had two goals and an assist, and Aja Cordova added a goal and an assist to lead fifth-ranked El Modena (6-1). Stephanie Esperanza also scored.